


Three Songs and They Were Lost

by Synnie, TomiTransylvania



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Attraction, Crush at First Sight, Dai Matou Enbu | Grand Magic Games Arc, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 03:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20251510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synnie/pseuds/Synnie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomiTransylvania/pseuds/TomiTransylvania
Summary: Sabertooth was victorious in the Grand Magic Games for years. But now the Tenrou Team was back, and one Fairy in particular has caught Rufus Lore's eye.





	Three Songs and They Were Lost

**Author's Note:**

> I found this in my docs from who knows when and Tomi and I have no idea if I wrote it by myself or if we did it together :'D

He knew he should be watching the match. It was his own teammate down there after all. Rogue was a strong dragon slayer, stronger than his opponent to be sure. Surely he didn't need all attention on him when he was so clearly winning. After all, Sabertooth had dominated the wizarding world the last few years. The fairies hadn’t been able to hold their rank as top guild so Sabertooth now reigned. 

The fairies of Fairy Tail. He was so  _ distracting. _ Rufus Lore shook his head a little to snap himself out of his stupor.

“You good?” Orga asked quietly.  


“Yes. All those shadows bouncing around was making my eyes cross,” Rufus lied smoothly. Orga nodded in understanding, as he wasn't quite sure which shadow was Rogue and which was the fairy Gajeel but hadn't wanted to admit it.  


But that wasn't Rufus’ problem at all. He knew which one was Rogue - the shadow that was a fraction too slow.  


Rufus’ problem was standing in the Fairy Tail stands.  


The two guilds weren't enemies per se but they were opposing guilds, and Rufus couldn't deny the thrill he got every year in the Grand Magic Games eliminating the once strongest guilds in Fiore. He reveled in the defeated hopelessness in their eyes as he was announced match winner.  


This year was different though. There were more fairies and he knew it was because the strongest members were back after being trapped on their guild's island for seven years. The news outlets were abuzz with it. And there was one fairy who kept pulling his attention who hadn't been at the games before. He could have been new but the familiarity of the way he treated his guild mates said he was part of the Tenrou Team.  


Rufus was a man of refined taste. He had grown up wealthy, and even though he was willing to get dirty doing his job as a mage, everything about him spoke to a life of luxury. His tailored clothes were cut from fine cloth, his private tutors left him with a poetic cadence to his words, and his boyfriends always had to be on par, at least, with his family's social status.

And yet, the man catching his eye had a gaudy sense of style mixing stripes, skulls and colours with fur and medieval masks.

At first, Rufus was sure it was just the odd attire that had him looking. Maybe in the beginning it was. But the longer he watched, the more he realized he liked watching the fairy interact with his guild mates. He would scream and cheer for those competing, the dragon slayer Laxus in particular. At first Rufus had felt a pang that he refused to acknowledge, thinking perhaps the fairy had a thing for Laxus. But a glance at the green haired man beside him with impeccable taste and style told him otherwise. There was no denying the look of love and adoration on the green one’s face every time Laxus was on the field. The dragon slayer belonged to Green.

He knew then that they were the Thunder Legion, the small group of powerful mages devoted to the lightning dragon slayer. He wasn't sure of their names. Once he had heard they were lost and all search and rescue attempts had failed, he hadn't bothered memorizing anything about them.  


But now Rufus was enjoying watching the brunette with the cleavage hit him repeatedly anywhere she could reach because it made the mysterious fairy burst out laughing. The smile was contagious, and he found would find himself smiling but quickly schooled his features.  


That was before this match. It seemed his guild wasn't the only ones unable to follow the match. He stopped trying when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye in the fairy stands. The masked man was in discussion with Green, both shaking their heads and pointing. Then after a nod, he lifted his mask.

And Rufus couldn't breathe.

The fairy was beautiful with his wild dark hair and prominent face tattoo, things Rufus normally wouldn't have given a second notice to. And then the fairy’s eyes started to glow.

Rufus watched curiously as the mage’s gaze followed the shadows, clearly using magic but not one the memory make mage was familiar with. Finally the fairy said something to his teammates. Cleavage and Green’s postures changed, suddenly straighter and smug. He concluded the wild fairy came to the same answer he had in that Gajeel was faster. But then he said something and Cleavage hit him again, making him laugh again. Being able to see his face meant Rufus was hit the full effect of the smile. His own grew, unable to help it, and to him the arena seemed a little bit brighter.

From that point on Rufus was a man obsessed. He no longer watched the games, attention solely on the fairy out of the corner of his eye beneath his large hat so he teammates wouldn’t notice. He had done some sleuthing and turned up the information that the Thunder Legion consisted of Freed Justine, whom he had previously acknowledged as Green and he was a rune mage. Cleavage was actually named Evergreen and lived up to her role in Fairy Tail by using fairy magic. But the wild one Rufus was enamoured with was a seith mage by the name of Bixlow.  


Rufus was not proud of his actions and would deny it to anyone but himself, but he had followed the Thunder Legion around Crocus briefly on different occasions after the games had concluded for the day. And he found himself falling harder for a man he had still yet to meet.  


Bixlow was hilarious. He was constantly joking and doing commentaries on things he saw and Rufus had to clamp a hand over his mouth sometimes so as to not give himself away by laughing. His voice was deep and had a rasp to it that made Rufus’ toes curl. He was also far more generous than the memory make mage was. One time tailing them, Rufus overheard Bixlow telling Freed that he had forgotten his wallet and asked him for a couple dollars that he had promptly used to buy one of the city's orphans food from a food cart.  


Every time he returned to the room he was sharing with his teammates, Rufus had a smile on his face. Sting called it creepy but if anyone was creepy it was Sting himself. He had wondered where Rufus was sneaking off to and pulled him close, sniffing his chest, neck and hair trying to get a scent off of him that could explain his sudden change in behaviour.

Sting couldn't place it and Rogue apologized endlessly for his other half’s antics. Rufus shrugged it off, unable to be bothered by anything.  


Well that was until he laid awake in bed and realized he had lost the match against Grey Fullbuster a few days prior and Bixlow had witnessed his weakness. Sleep eluded him that night as he obsessed about making a fool in front of the man he was finally acknowledging as his crush.  


The events that took place after were both a blessing and a curse. When the dragons attacked, Rufus had hoped was enough to make the fairy forget about his icy defeat. That is, if Bixlow had ever even noticed him in the first place.   


But of course, nothing works like that.

Rufus learned that when Sabertooth was invited to a banquet in thanks for helping to rid the town of dragons. He dressed carefully, putting on an outfit much like his regular one but made of even finer cloth. His counted one hundred brush strokes to his hair before double checking his outfit and deeming himself ready.

Ready to be a wallflower with Orga, that is. The pair talked quietly as Rufus sat in view of the door for what seemed like hours. Finally Laxus and his legion entered. Wearing clothes that Rufus was sure was rented, Bixlow had cleaned up nicely and the blonde reached for his water glass, suddenly finding his mouth dry. He had changed his mishmash of patterns and materials for a crisp embroidered jacket and, to Rufus’ delight, he went without his mask.

He made idle talk with Orga as long as he could but he saw Bixlow alone for a second and immediately excused himself in the middle of Orga’s sentence. Downing the remainder of his water, he walked towards the fairy. The lightning god slayer smiled to himself when he saw Rufus starting to make his move. He liked talking to Rufus because even though they often disagreed on things or he was as distracted as he was tonight, he was the only one in Sabertooth that took the time to acknowledge him. That left Orga with a lot of time to people watch. He knew more about the guild than anyone simply because he was ignored. Sting thought he was quick on the uptake that Rufus had been behaving oddly, but in truth Orga had noticed it the first day. He whispered encouragement that Rufus’ attempt would go well.

“Excuse me?”  


Bixlow whirled around. He had been in the middle of scooping more food than he probably should have onto a plate at one of the buffet tables when a voice interrupted him. Assuming it was one of the guards telling him not to be such a pig, Bixlow hid the plate behind his back. His wide eyes went back to their normal size as he saw it was just another mage. He took the plate from behind his back, relaxing.

“Yo.” his gravelly voice made Rufus’ heart trip over itself. “You’re the one with the memory from Sabertooth, right?”

“Yes,” Rufus fought to keep his blush down. “Rufus Lore.”

“Bixlow.” Bixlow extended his hand before realizing he was still holding onto his fork. He stabbed it into a potato and extended his hand again. Rufus jumped at the literal spark between them. “Sorry about that,” the Fairy Tail mage laughed. “It’s all part of being around Laxus so much. You get used to it.”

Rufus felt he was subtle as his gaze flickered over Bixlow’s still wild hair, red eyes and tattoo, then down over his body right down to his shiny shoes. But he was not as subtle as he thought. When his eyes were back on Bixlow’s face, the other man had a grin on his face so large his tongue was hanging out. Rufus’ eyes landed on his tongue and when he heard the chuckle, his face felt on fire.

“Well if you came over here to chat me up, let’s go sit somewhere.” Bixlow started to lead him to a quieter corner of the room where they could sit and talk. On the way there, he glanced at Orga who made cheering motions.  


“You were impressive out there,” Bixlow said after they had been seated for a few minutes.  


“Out where?” Rufus kicked himself. The arena. Obviously. “Oh. I lost so I was not so impressive. Thank you, though.”

“It was a damn good match. Not gonna lie, I was shocked when Grey beat you,” the fairy admitted before starting to eat.  


“So was I,” Rufus couldn’t help but laugh a little.  


From there, discussion flowed easily between them. They were genuinely interested in each other’s magics and so time flew by as they talked about various aspects - how they got started and why, their favourite spell to do, where they wanted to take their abilities. That led to talks about the guilds, and Rufus accidentally admitting something he had never even acknowledged to himself.

“With Sting becoming Master, none of us know how to act with each other because the animosity Jiemma forged between all of us has been lifted. I was as cruel to my guild as they were to me. Perhaps worse.”

Bixlow was quiet for a minute and Rufus regretting having said it but then the other man angled himself to look at the blonde a little better. “I fought my own guild. I hurt them physically and mentally. It hadn’t been my idea initially but I fully supported it and was even eager to do it. Then Laxus left and we didn’t know what to do, same as you. And then Freed was gone, off on a job at the Master’s request. Only one person other than Ever talked to me. Even now, I’ll talk to the others once in awhile but outside of the Legion, I still really only talk to Cana. But I started picking up bar tabs. You don’t have to be the best of friends or anything from the start. You start with something small, like maybe a chat, or an offer to share food or something. Or bar tabs,” Bixlow said it with a smile as he held his plate out for Rufus to take a piece of finger food. The blonde took a piece of battered crab and ate it as Bixlow finished speaking. “After that, who knows where you’ll end up.”

Before Rufus had a chance to reply, the tattooed man set his plate aside and extended his hand. Caught slightly off guard, Rufus took it and was led out to the floor. They passed Freed who was chasing off girls that were swarming Laxus, passed Orga who was no longer sitting by himself but wasn’t talking either, and passed an Evergreen who was absolutely not trying to secretly dance with Elfman. In a smooth movement, Bixlow’s hands slid into place as the pair started to slowly move to the band’s music. Rufus was impressed that Bixlow could dance and quietly told him so as they moved.

The unlikely pair drew attention, though they didn’t notice. All they noticed was the quiet conversation they were sharing. They missed seeing different members of their guilds pointing them out, or the whispers that stemmed from it.  


One song. Two songs. Three songs. The pair lost track of how long they were up there as they talked and laughed. They stopped only for drinks and before either one was ready, the band was finished and the night was over.

Neither one was ready for it to end though, and that surprised Rufus. He was used to being alone, and he preferred it that way. People weren't smart enough to keep his interest. It wasn't that Bixlow was smarter than him, but the man was outrageous. Had those stories that the seith mage shared come out of anyone else's mouth, Rufus wouldn't have believed half of them. But he could tell Bixlow was crazy enough to do all the stuff he claimed and Rufus was intrigued that he never knew what he was going to say next. It had been a very long time since he met someone so unpredictable.

And it didn't end with the stories. Rufus was raised proper and was courted as someone of his stature should be. First dates always ended with a kiss to the back of the hand like he was some dainty princess or to the cheek. He wasn't expecting Bixlow to walk him to the pub where the Sabertooth was staying. And he certainly wasn't expecting to have his goodbye cut off by a pair of warm lips on his own.  


He froze for a split second before kissing back. But by that time Bixlow was already pulling back. The seith mage laughed as Rufus’ mouth subconsciously followed his before the blonde realized what he was doing and blushed.

Bixlow cupped one cheek with his hand and lowered his head once more. This time Rufus knew it was coming and met him halfway. Their kiss remained chaste until Bixlow swiped Rufus’ lip with his tongue. Their tongues met and the kiss deepened. At some point, neither realized when, Rufus’ hat fell off and Bixlow ran his fingers through the silky strands of blonde that hung down.  


After what seemed simultaneously as forever and not long enough, the kiss ended. Both of them were panting hard and both sets of eyes were hooded. But Bixlow stepped back and said goodnight. He winked then turned back in the direction they had come from to go back to the inn Fairy Tail was using.  


As he walked away, he laughed to himself as he heard Sabertooth cheering for their guildmate, drunken Sting the loudest of all, saying things that would make most people blush.

Neither Bixlow nor Rufus knew where this thing between them would go, if anywhere. But both were definitely interested in trying out some of Sting’s vulgarity.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! This is our FT OTP :D


End file.
